The Great Reset

If you are over, say, 40, here’s a question to test your computer savvy skills: What is the easiest way to fix your computer when it freezes, stalls, or otherwise quits working?

The answer? Turn it off! This always seems to put an end to the crazy, overworked track it was on and give it a new start, erasing all the clutter and giving it a new start back to its default settings.

With this in mind, we are tempted to look at society the same way – that the crazy rat-race we were on needed to be suddenly shut-down and restarted back to the way it was before, making this a conservative longing. To some the pandemic is just the thing that has forced us to do just that – a great “reset” back to slower and simpler times before things got so complicated.

But this idea of a "reset" is also popular on the progressive side of the political spectrum. The definition of “reset” seems to have both conservative and progressive ideas in mind as it actually gives two very different meanings: “to set again or differently”.

That “set again” part is often what conservatives think about, as in “getting back to the good old days”. Progressives, however, would focus on the “to set differently” part, as in “lets throw off the bad habits and traditions that held us back and make a great leap forward to change the world.”

So which is better? Should it be either/ or, or both/and?

During a marketplace outreach conversation with a fellow shopper named George, much of his sentiments focused on lamenting the negative changes our society has made, among those being the loss of a more simple time when Americans shared much the same faith and values, before all the distractions of our digital age.

George clearly identified with the conservative side of politics, and longed for a return to normalcy. But is that really possible, and is a return to the way things were always preferable?

That’s not what Jesus always taught.

Instead, Jesus’ followers then and now are often called to be agents of change – salt and light in a dark and tasteless world: “You are the salt of the earth. But if the salt loses its saltiness, how can it be made salty again? It is no longer good for anything, except to be thrown out and trampled underfoot. You are the light of the world. A town built on a hill cannot be hidden. Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven."

This progressive trajectory applies to society, but it also applies to individual change as Jesus calls each person to die to their sin and become born again into a new relationships with God, given new life by his Holy Spirit.

There are some things we do need to “conserve”, or go back to. Hebrews 13:8 says “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.” He doesn’t change – but we most certainly do. George, for his part, had drifted away from regular church attendance, even before the pandemic. For him a “reset” would mean making progress in an area he has long neglected.

Vs. 9 goes on to say “Do not be carried away by all kinds of strange teachings.” We are not to add to or take away from the simple Gospel message. But sometimes the way forward can even mean going backward, as the way forward for those who have lost their way actually means going all the way back to the place they’d taken a wrong turn.

For George, that will involve regular church attendance, being a part of a local church fellowship, prayer, worship, and reading God’s word. Conservative ideas? Not at all. Just like hitting that reset button, we are just returning to the only place we can really make progress.